Nieuwenhuis Johanna

Nieuwenhuis, Johanna Regina (Schilpzand) Johanna (Jo) Nieuwenhuis-Schilpzand lived with two of her adult daughters, Rie and Jos, in a three-story terraced house on the Hugo de Grootlaan in Heemstede, North Holland. On November 25, 1942, she took in Jacob and Rosalie de Vries, whom she had never met before and whose real identity was kept from her during the war. Nora Brouwer, a Jewish nurse from Amsterdam, also hid for a short time with Jo and her daughters. In November 1943, Jo took in Jacob de Vries’s parents, Bernard and Sarah (van Kloeten) de Vries, who had had to flee from their hiding place in Haarlem because of a blackmail attempt. For safety’s sake, Jo tried to avoid having visitors in the house, which left her isolated from family and friends and lonely after her divorce. Ab van Walsem, who had brought the Jews to the house, also supplied the family with food coupons. Jo’s younger sister, Julia Schilpzand, brought fruit and vegetables and Ch. Haye handled the small amount of money paid by the de Vries toward their upkeep. Jacob and Rosalie de Vries were given a room on the first floor on the front side of the house. Jo also made sure that Jacob’s parents had their own room. The refugees spent their days helping with the housework, reading, studying, writing, translating books, and playing chess and monopoly. They kept the curtains closed whenever they were in the room and had to stay quiet and remain indoors at all times. Jo tried hard to make the Jews comfortable. Jo was motivated to help the de Vries family by her humanity, her religious orientation, and her trust in the protection of God. On June 30, 1944, the Germans surrounded the house and arrested Jo, Rie, and Jos Nieuwenhuis and the de Vries family. Rie and Jos were released the next day, but Jo was sent to the Vught, Ravensbrück, and Dachau concentration camps. She survived and rejoined her daughters, including her other girl, Miep, in Heemstede, but died not long after the war. Of the de Vriesfamily, only Jacob survived. On March 31, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Johanna Regina Nieuwenhuis-Schilpzand as Righteous Among the Nations.